Evening In
by Zelda Ophelia
Summary: Flack/Stella. When he had invited her over for a night in, dinner and a movie, he had been expecting them to go through his DVD collection or maybe running to the rental place around the corner.


Stella was flipping through channels when he joined her in the living room, a bowl of popcorn in one hand and two bottles of beer dangling by their necks from the fingers of the other hand. She may have insisted on helping with the dishes, but he had chased her out of his kitchen to find something to watch while he started the popcorn. She had just settled on a channel when he joined her on the couch, passing her one of the bottles and placing the bowl on the table in front of them.

"You want to watch an old Righteous Brothers concert? Really?" Don asked as she set the remote back on the coffee table. When he had invited her over for a night in, dinner and a movie, he had been expecting them to go through his DVD collection or maybe running to the rental place around the corner. Her grabbing the remote and switching it to a PBS affiliate had been unexpected, as was her taste in viewing choices.

"We don't have to watch it," she said as she reached again for the remote. "I just thought--"

"No, it's okay." He stopped her, entwining her fingers in his right hand as he stretched his left arm across the couch behind her. "I was just surprised. I never really figured you for a Righteous Brothers fan."

"So says the guy with a Peter Gabriel ring tone."

"Hey, don't knock Peter Gabriel. We have history." He squeezed her fingers gently with his.

"I guess this is part of my history, then." She motioned to the TV with the beer she held in her left hand. "You know about the Bennetts? Before I was in the orphanage?"

"The foster family you were with," he said as his thumb began to trace lazy circles against her shoulder. "You told me about them. And Mindy."

"They weren't all bad." She snorted and shook her head at her comment. "What I mean is, I didn't think at the time that it was a bad place to be. I didn't know about what Garth was doing to Mindy. Or that I was going to be next. It was a home and a family. And that was gone when I was sent to the orphanage."

"Which was after Mindy ran away, right?"

"Yeah. But, what I was trying to say was that the Bennetts, they had these rules. They were probably good rules, the kind that every household had. One of them was that the kids were only allowed to watch PBS. Sometimes we could watch a different channel, if Marilyn or Gareth were there to watch with us, but it was mostly PBS. So there was a lot of Sesame Street and Electric Company growing up. And other shows, education and family oriented. Marilyn was a fan of the Righteous Brothers, so we'd always watch whenever they were on Austin City Limits. That was one show she'd let us stay up late for on occasion because she thought that music appreciation was good for us. But we always got to stay up when the Righteous Brothers were on. Not to mention the concerts that would be shown during pledge marathons."

"So you saw a lot of their concerts when you were a kid."

"Yeah," she turned to look at him with a grin and said, "I even saw them in concert in person. Right after I graduated from the academy, they were playing here in New York and I decided it was going to be my treat to myself. A reward for getting through police training."

"Not a bad idea." He said, returning her grin. "Where were they playing?"

"At Radio City." She sighed, leaning against his shoulder as she pulled her right hand from him to run through her hair. "It was everything I thought it would be, but at the same time nothing I was expecting."

"What do you mean?"

"I loved it, don't get me wrong. But at the same time, it was like something was missing. I wanted to be back at the Bennett's house, watching the concert on TV with Marilyn and Mindy, not with a few friends from the Academy watching it surrounded by thousands of strangers."

"It reminded you of the home and family you lost."

"Exactly." Stella shook her head and said. "Which doesn't make sense. I was only eight when I went into the orphanage. I really don't remember much about the Bennett's, just bits and pieces. But watching the Righteous Brothers on PBS with Marilyn and Mindy is one of those really vivid pieces, like going to the revival theater. I don't remember much else, really just a bit of a sense of home and belonging, but I definitely remember that."

"Hmmm, I wonder..." Don said, reaching for the TV schedule he'd tossed on the coffee table earlier. The concert they had been watching was finished, the credits rolling up the screen and he had a feeling they were about to enter a pledge break. "Just as I thought."

"What?" She asked, peering over his shoulder at the schedule.

"Pledge week. But after this break, they'll be playing another Righteous Brothers concert, followed by their 21st Anniversary special." He looked over at her, then said, "Are you up for a marathon? I can make more popcorn."

"I'm off tomorrow," she said in a hopeful tone.

"I'm not in until noon. Plenty of time for us to stay up and watch these concerts. Want to help with the popcorn?"

The commentator in the background made a wry joke about needing 'That Loving Feeling' from supporters while she smiled at Don. "Sure."


End file.
